Cholpon Ergash

Cho'lpon Ergash is a poet who wrote in Uzbek. He was born in the summer of 1937 in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan. His childhood fell in the hard years of the war: he began to work at eight, started school at nine and later did military service.

In the 1960s he moved to Tashkent, graduated from a technical school for cultural and educational work and then entered the theatre and art institute. One source says he studied in its acting faculty in 1960–1965. After his diploma he chose literature and the press rather than the stage.

His first poem appeared in the magazine O'zbekiston. His debut collection, “Tong yulduzi” (“The Morning Star”), came out in 1970. It was followed by “Bizning uyimiz” (“Our Home”) and “Muborak kunlar” (“Blessed Days”) in 1972, “Umid chirog'i” (“The Lamp of Hope”, 1979), “Bahor orzulari” (“Dreams of Spring”, 1980) and “Tong otar sadolari” (“Sounds of Dawn”, 1982).

In the mid-1980s and early 1990s he published “Oy chodir tikmoqda” (1985), “Eng baland qasr” (“The Tallest Fortress”, 1986), “Karvon kelar” (“The Caravan Will Come”) and “Orzuning og'ir kipriklari” (“The Heavy Eyelashes of a Dream”), the last two in 1990. He is the author of more than ten poetry collections. The long poem “O'tmish o'yinlari” (“Games of the Past”), included in the last of them, is described as being about the people's age-old longing for freedom.